Scottish Executive

Marine Environment

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it attaches to Scotland's coast and seas and what steps it is taking to develop a more coherent approach to the sustainable management of Scotland's marine environment.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is taking a strong lead in setting a vision for Scotland's marine environment and identifying how best to deliver the sustainable development of our valuable marine resources.

  Scotland has a marine environment to be proud of. Our marine and coastal waters support a wide and abundant range of wildlife and natural habitats. They also provide food, recreation and energy. For all activity in and around our seas, striking the right balance between socio-economic and environmental factors is vitally important to the sustainable future of our country and to the marine life around our shores. The Scottish Executive already has a range of initiatives in place to address some of the main pressures on our coast and seas in order to get that balance right.

  We now want to go further. We want to bring greater clarity to how those current activities interrelate and what principal policy objectives they collectively serve. I want to review whether, despite present activity, there are any strategic issues not currently addressed and, if so, whether and how to take them forward and in what timeframe.

  We are therefore publishing a consultation paper today to seek views on how best to develop a strategic framework for Scotland's marine environment. The consultation paper sets out the background to the importance of our coastal and marine waters and the continuing pressures on them. It summarises our existing international and EU obligations and describes the measures we already have in hand to meet them. It presents an overarching vision for our marine environment with current supporting activities. And it raises a number of open questions on what the key elements of a strategic framework should be, on what structures might be needed to give effect to it and on what governance structure might be needed for the future sustainable management of our coast and seas.

  The consultation paper takes forward our Partnership Agreement commitment to consult on the best strategy for protecting and enhancing all of Scotland's coastline, including the options of establishing a national coastline parks and marine national parks. It also seeks views on whether any changes might be necessary to the following four specific pieces of legislation relating to marine and coastal development consents for which the Scottish Executive has devolved responsibility:

  Part II of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (deposits in the sea)

  Coast Protection Act 1949 (navigational safety)

  Harbours Act 1964 (port developments)

  Electricity Act 1989 (offshore electricity generation)

  Copies of the consultation paper have been forwarded to the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 32159).

  In parallel to the consultation paper, the Scottish Executive will be producing a shorter leaflet on the importance of Scotland's seas to help raise wider public awareness of, and invite comment on, the issues raised in the consultation paper.

Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in developing secondary legislation under the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003.

Allan Wilson: I am publishing today a consultation paper, The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 . It outlines our proposals to introduce regulations to control activities that have an impact on the water environment. I am placing copies of this document in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 32248).